Describe columns for people and AI

For example, explain the currency in an Amount column or what a Status value means.

Describe a column

1. Open the column’s ⋯ menu, at the right of its header, and choose Describe….
2. Under Description, write what the column holds, in up to 500 characters.
3. Choose Save.

To remove a description, empty the box and choose Save.

When you add a new column, the Add column window has a Description box too.

You need edit access to the database to describe its columns.

Find the description

• People: point at the column’s name in the header, or at the field’s name in the Row panel, and the description appears.
• Ask: when someone asks a question that a database can answer, Ask reads the descriptions to pick the right columns. Ask needs built-in AI, which the person who set up Stuga turns on in Settings.
• The AI co-author in the database’s side panels reads them too. It also needs built-in AI.
• AI tools you connect, such as Claude or Codex, read them with the rest of the database’s layout.

Write a useful description

Say what someone new to the table would get wrong:

• the unit or currency: “Amount in euros, before VAT”;
• what a code means: “ISO country code, such as SE or DE”;
• which of two similar columns to use: “Use this one; Old status is kept for history”.

Good to know

• An AI tool can describe a column it is creating. Changing the description of a column that already exists is for people only.
• For guidance on the whole database, such as how rows should be written, use Instructions for agents… in the ⋯ menu beside Share. See Give AI tools instructions.

Next

• Ask a question across your documents: get an answer from your documents.
• Give AI tools instructions: explain how you want AI tools to work.
• Save views of a database: save filters, sorting and grouping.